Posts tagged “Tree Trunk”

Far past my spring green age
I sit, all autumn touched with frost,
in introspective summer sun
and contemplate the lines and limits
of this limp and languorous life.

Above and beyond, the marbled sky,
creamy clouds skilfully stitched by
sedulous swifts into the clear cerulean blue,
to patch and paste a quilted backdrop
for my bordering bank of trees.

Such trees! Such leaves!
Such showers, shoots and sprays
and clamouring cascades
in myriad shades of green:

Here at the very twig tip
the freshest of spring green
brings to my musings small fingers
shyly seeking in the spring meadows
for the timorous hand-holds of new sweethearts
and soft lips barely brushed – first steps
in a dewy-eyed dance of love.

Further back, a deeper green,
so like the fiddle-head ferns on mountain fells
and bracken fronds bent and broken
flat for comfort in passion’s pas de deux
or deeper still to bring to mind
the glass of quarry pools and strings of weed
a-cling to strands of slick and sodden hair.

Emerald leaves spark a memory of firefly nights
tucked tight together with Terpsichore:
a passionate prelude to a closer dance.
Higher, in the conifers, blue-green needles
dusted with a hazy hint of smoke
take me to the sea and secret sandy dunes
and languid cherished shoreline loves

So many greens, from mint to sage,
and clever besides to pick each time the perfect
foil for blood berries and pastel blooms
and even in the passing time, the fall,
the beauty shifts from gold to flame –
though sad to say these painted shrouds
will duly die discarded on the ground

And so I sit replete, content
with visions I could not invent:
to soothe my soul and please my eye
these shades of green will ever satisfy.

Pascuas is an erect, sparingly, and laxly branched shrub, 2 to 4 meters high. Leaves are elliptic to oblong-elliptic or the upper ones lanceolate, 10 to 18 centimeters, the lower ones entirely green, obscurely repand or slightly lobed, long-petioled, slightly hairy beneath, the upper ones, at the time of flowering, uniformly bright-red. Inflorescence is terminal. Involucres are ovoid, about 1 centimeter long, the margins toothed, each with one or two large, yellow glands. Flowers are crowded.

The bright petals of Poinsettias, which look like flowers, are actually the bunch of upper leaves of the plant, called bracts. Poinsettia flowers are small, green or yellow, and grow inconspicuously in the center of each leaf bunch. Poinsettias are sub-tropical plants and therefore wither if the night temperature falls below 10 degrees C (50 degrees F). The day time temperatures in excess of 21 degrees C (70 degrees F) shorten the lifespan of Poinsettias.

The yellow flowers, or cyathia, are in the center of the colorful bracts. The plant drops its bracts and leaves soon after those flowers shed their pollen. For the longest-lasting Poinsettias, choose plants with little or no yellow pollen showing.

The Poinsettia has a short, thick trunk and rough, brown bark. The branches are slender and green and spread into an open bush formation, bearing most of their leaves towards the end. New leaves are soft, bronze and downy, later becoming green and then hard and leathery, deeply scored by the veins. Each branchlet ends with a circle of bracts surrounding a small cluster of “flowers.” The bracts are about 12.5 cm. long and half that in width.

The colors of the bracts are created through “photoperiodism“, meaning that they require darkness (12 hours at a time for at least five days in a row) to change color. On the other hand, once Poinsettias finish that process, the plants require abundant light during the day for the brightest color.

In colder climates, Poinsettias are grown as indoor plants. As indoor plants, Poinsettias need exposure to the morning sun and shade during the hotter part of the day. Poinsettias are one the most difficult to reflower after the initial display when purchased. Poinsettias need a period of uninterrupted long, light-free nights for about two months in early spring in order to develop flowers.

They are found in the wild in deciduous tropical forest at moderate elevations from southern Sinaloa down the entire Pacific coast of Mexico to Chiapas and Guatemala. They are also found in the interior of Mexico in the hot, seasonally dry forests of Gurerro and Oxaca Now it is found in most parts of the world, in greenhouses in the colder climes and out-of-doors in tropical and sub-tropical countries like the Indian subcontinent. It is very popular in Australia, Malta, Egypt and Turkey.

It came originally from Mexico and was named after Ambassador Poinsett of South Carolina, who brought the first plants from there in the middle of the 19th Century.

There are many varieties all with the same peculiarity — extreme degeneration of the flowers. The coloured leaves are not part of the flowers but just bracts, brightly coloured to attract insects as in the Bougainvilleas and other plants. The rounded, bud-like formations, with up-standing stamens and peculiar lateral protuberances are not flowers at all but clusters of degenerated flowers. Each “stamen” is all that exists of a male flower, and the bulky “pistil” is all there is of a whole female flower.

Euphorbia pulcherrima – Poinsettia – Ajaytao

Some of the varieties are very far removed from our gay garden plant, being nothing but roadside weeds. Others are like miniatures with only a small area of scarlet, others have no scarlet at all but an ugly greenish-yellow instead. Horticulturists have introduced still more varieties, so now we have double forms, forms where the red is replaced by pink or yellow or white and some with variegated leaves. But any of these is an improvement on the original crimson.

Facts About Poinsettias

Poinsettias also bloom in cream, lemon, peach, pink colors and with white and gold-splashed leaves. There are more than 100 varieties of poinsettias available today. Poinsettias come in colors like the traditional red, white, pink, burgundy, marbled and speckled.

Poinsettias are perennial flowering shrubs that were once considered weeds.

Euphorbia pulcherrima, means “themost beautiful Euphorbia“.

Poinsettia was named after the former US ambassador to Mexico, Dr. Joel R. Poinsett who introduced the Poinsettia to the United States.

Poinsettias, at times, reach a height of sixteen feet.

Poinsettias are also known by other names such as ‘Christmas flower‘, ‘lobster flower’, and ‘Mexican flame leaf‘.

The Paul Ecke Ranch in California grows over 70% of all Poinsettias purchased in the United States and does about 50% of the world-wide sales of Poinsettias.

December 12th is Poinsettia Day, which marks the death of Joel Roberts Poinsett in 1851.

In Mexico, the Poinsettia is displayed in celebration of the “Dia de la Virgen“, which is also coincidentally, December 12th.

The Aztecs used the Poinsettia bracts to make a reddish purple dye for fabrics, and used the sap medicinally to control fevers.

Poinsettias contribute over $250 million to the U.S. economy at the retail level.

California is the top U.S. Poinsettia-producing state.

Poinsettias are the best selling potted plant in the United States and Canada.

Poinsettias are susceptible to several diseases, mostly fungal, but also bacterial and parasitic.

The Aztecs used the plant to produce red dye and as an antipyretic medication.In Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, the plant is called Cuetlaxochitl (from cuetlatl, residue, and xochitl, flower) meaning “flower that grows in residues or soil.” Today it is known in Mexico as “Flor de Noche Buena“, meaning Christmas Eve Flower. In Spain, Puerto Rico, Guatemala and other Central America countries it is known as “Flor de Pascua” or “Pascua” meaning “Easter flower”. In Chile and Peru, the plant became known as “Crown of the Andes“. In Turkey, it is called Atatürk’s Flower because Atatürk, the founder of the Republic, liked this flower and made a significant contribution to its cultivation for it to become widespread in Turkey. This name is given by botanists who took place in the beginning of its cultivation in Turkey.

Poinsettias & Christmas

The ancient Aztecs (the Mexican Indians) prized the Poinsettia as a symbol of purity. Centuries later, Mexico’s early Christians adopted the Poinsettia as their prized Christmas Eve flower. The Mexican Poinsettia, known as the Christmas flower in North America, is used in most Christmas decorations, owing to its bright red color and its blooming season coinciding with the Christmas holiday season.

The Mexican poinsettias are commonly bright red. For some, these star-shaped bracts symbolize the Star of Bethlehem. The Christmas Poinsettia flowers have become a symbol of Christmas and are used as festive decor.

A Mexican legend explains how Poinsettias came to be associated with Christmas. Apparently, a child who could not afford a gift to offer to Christ on Christmas Eve picked some weeds from the side of a road. The child was told that a humble gift, if given in love, would be acceptable in God’s eyes. When brought into the church, the weeds bloomed into red and green flowers and the congregation felt that they had witnessed a Christmas miracle.

Leaves applied as poultice for erysipelas and a variety of cutaneous problems.
Latex is poisonous and causes irritation in wounds.
Infusion of flowers used as galactagogue.
Plants used as emetic and cathartic.
In Mexico, decoction of bracts taken by nursing women to increase the flow of milk, although the practice is considered dangerous by some.
Infusion of flowers prescribed as galatagogue.
Plant used as emeto-cathartic.
In Indonesia, the racunan plant (E. pulcherrima) is used as emetic, emmenagogue, and galactagogue, for treating tuberculosis, skin infections, and fractures.

Poinsettias are not poisonous. A study at Ohio State University showed that a 50-pound child would have to eat more than 500 leaves to have any harmful effect. Plus poinsettia leaves have an awful taste. You might want to keep your pets from snacking on poinsettia leaves. Eating the leaves can cause vomiting and diarrhea.

Latex is very caustic and poisonous, severely irritating to wounds, and extremely dangerous to the eyes.

A characteristic of many poisonous plants, it should be noted, is a milky-white sap which exudes from a part or all of the plant when cut. Poinsettia is no exception and one should exercise great care in handling cut branches. Both leaves and bracts droop very quickly after cutting; so if the sprays are required for indoor decoration, the cut ends should be immediately plunged into boiling water to the depth of 5 cm. This will preserve their freshness for a considerable time.

The Poinsettia requires full sun and good drainage and should be cut down to about 30cm. after flowering. This is essential if large, compact shrubs, 2.5 to 3m. high, are expected the following season. Cuttings root readily.

Many plants in the Euphorbiaceae family ooze a milky sap. Some people with latex allergies have had a skin reaction (most likely to the sap) after touching the leaves. For pets, the poinsettia sap may cause mild irritation or nausea. Probably best to keep pets away from the plant, especially puppies and kittens.

Poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima) are popular potted plants, particularly during the Christmas season. Brightly colored and mostly red, a Poinsettia provides effective color in home decor during and after the holiday season. The newer Poinsettia cultivars are long-lasting in contrast to the cultivars that were available a few years ago. Christmas charm is what these amazing Poinsettias hold. As there are few flowers to brighten our gardens around Christmas time, the flamboyant Poinsettia, with its bright red bracts, is deservedly popular.

Cochlospermum religiosum is a flowering plant from the tropical region of Southeast Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. Buttercup Tree is native to India, Burma and Thailand.

The botanical name has the following meaning – Cochlospermum because the seed resembles a snail. Religiosum because the flowers are used as temple offerings. It is also known as Silk-Cotton Tree because the capsules containing the seeds have a fluffy cotton-like substance similar to kapok. Another common name is Buttercup tree because its yellow and bright flowers look like large-sized buttercups. In Thailand it is the provincial tree of Nakhon Nayok Province.

The fruits are brown and oval shaped. They come in the form of a capsule made up of five segments. The capsule splits open to release the seeds which are embedded in the silky cotton contained within. Fruits like a capsule, 6-8 x 4.5-5.5 cm, 5-valved, obovoid, pear shaped, straight, leathery, brown; seeds many, 6 mm long, black, curved, embedded in white cotton. This silky cotton is said to induce sleep when stuffed into pillows.

C. religiosum – Mature fruit

The flowering season is between February and April, particularly after the leaves are shed.

The flower is highlighted in one of the telugu rhymes which conveys that flowers will be on the top of the branches where moon only can pluck the flowers by climbing on a mountain.

“Chandamama raave, jabilli raave Kondekki raave, GOGU poolu theve”

Materials Uses:

The tree yields a gum, katira gum, which is insoluble in water but swells in it, and mixed with gum-arabic gives a water-borne adhesive paste. The gum has some value in cigar and ice-cream manufacture, and can be used as a substitute for gum tragacanth in various industrial processes. It is sweetish, cooling and sedative and helpful in cough medicine. The dried leaves and flowers are said to be stimulant. The floss surrounding the seeds is an inferior substitute for kapok. The seeds contain a non-drying oil reported in Indian material to amount to 14–15% and to be usable in soap-manufacture. The residual seed-cake is a suitable cattle concentrate, or can be used as a manure. The wood is soft, light and of little value. The bark contains a cordage fibre.

Yellow Silk Cotton (C. religiosum) trunk

Gum is used for Book binding, Calico printing, Cosmetic industry, Cigar paste, Seed oil is used in soap making, Seed cake is used as Manure and cattle feed.

Albizia saman (sometimes treated under the obsolete name Samanea saman) is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is native to the Neotropics. Its range extends from Central America, Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, through Guatemala to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil to Peru, Hawaii, Florida, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Marianas. but it has been widely introduced to South and Southeast Asia, India to Sri Lanka as well as the Pacific Islands, including Hawaii. Common names include saman, rain tree and monkeypod It is often placed in the genus Samanea.

Large, handsome and spreading, the Rain Tree is easily recognised by its umbrella like canopy of evergreen, feathery foliage and puffs of pink flowers. It is frequently planted in groups or as an avenue because of its ability to keep its symmetrical conformation in spite of prevailing winds.

It is a tree of rapid growth, brought originally from Central America to Sri Lanka and forwarded from there because it was considered to be a tree of great value for railway fuel. It often reaches a height of 27 m. and the strong, spreading branches may be nearly as long. The bark is dark grey, often bearing horizontal weals and the trunk frequently branches quite low down. From March to May and again towards the end of the year the green canopy is dotted all over with pink and white. During the rest of the year, too, there are usually quite a few flowers to be seen. The flowers appear like round, silken tufts, but actually each flower stalk bears one central and a surrounding circlet of florets, up to twenty in number. Each has a tube-shaped calyx and a tiny, yellow-lobed, crimson trumpet; bunches of long stamens, half pink and half white, protrude from each. The leaves fold in rainy weather and in the evening, hence the name “rain tree” and “five o’clock tree” (Pukul Lima) in Malay Hujan-hujan meaning “rain”, but in India it is believed that the name was given because of a curious habit possessed by the tree of intermittently spraying the ground beneath with moisture.

Albizia saman – Rain tree – Ajaytao

Several lineages of this tree are available, e.g., with reddish pink and creamish golden colored flowers. The long, heavy leaves are twice pinnate and each pinna, of which there are four to eight pairs, bears from three to seven pairs of leaflets. These are oval and have no stalks, becoming larger and more curved towards the end. on its thickened base so that the leaves all lie sideways. Later it was discovered that this was caused by multitudinous minute insects. The fruit is a fleshy pod, sweet to the taste and much relished by squirrels, horses and cattle. Although generally planted as a shade tree and ornamental, it has been naturalized in many countries and is greatly valued in pastures as shade for cattle. Short-boled, with a spreading crown when open grown, it forms a long, relatively straight stem when closely spaced. Its wood is highly valued in some locations for carvings and furniture.

The Monkey Pod tree is called this perhaps because monkeys are fond of the pods and sit in the trees eating them. The tree’s name in Greek. During his 1799–1804 travels in the Americas, Alexander von Humboldt encountered a giant saman tree near Maracay, Venezuela. He measured the circumference of the parasol-shaped crown at 576 ft (about 180.8 m[3]), its diameter was around 190 ft (about 59.6 m), on a trunk at 9 ft (about 2.8 m) in diameter and reaching just 60 ft (nearly 19 m) in height. Humboldt mentioned the tree was reported to have changed little since the Spanish colonization of Venezuela; he estimated it to be as old as the famous Canary Islands dragon tree (Dracaena draco) of Icod de los Vinos on Tenerife. The tree, called Samán del Guère (transcribed Zamang del Guayre by von Humboldt) still stands today, and is a Venezuelan national treasure. Just like the dragon tree on Tenerife, the age of the saman in Venezuela is rather indeterminate. As von Humboldt’s report makes clear, according to local tradition, it would be older than 500 years today, which is rather outstanding by the genus’ standards. It is certain, however, the tree is quite more than 200 years old today

The tree has nyctinastic leaf movements like Choi-Moi or the Tickle Me plant; its leaves close and curl up at night so that any rain that falls hits the ground more easily than it would under a tree with ordinary leaves. The pods and flowers are nitrogen rich and when they fall and decay, the nitrogen goes into the soil. Plants need this to make chlorophyll which gives them their green colour, so perhaps this is why there is lush vegetation under the Rain tree. Farmers like the trees because they are nitrogen fixers and they also grow quickly, the durable, hard wood is sustainable and eco-friendly so can be used for furniture and hand-carved bowls and decorative pieces. In Thailand the tree is host to the lac insect from which we get shellac.

Albizia saman – Rain tree – Ajaytao

The flowers attract honey bees as well as birds, moths and other insects, and locals enjoy the honey produced from the nectar, but it is only consumed in the locality of the growing trees.

Medicinal Uses

Saponin-like alkaloid pithecolobin has been isolated from the bark and the seed.
· Alkaloids are said to be abundant in the bark, stems, leaves, and seeds.
· Leaves and stems have saponin and tannin; gum from the trunk.
· Pods are rich in starch and sugar, with a fair proportion of albuminoid substances.
· Bark has no tannin. Trunk yields an inferior gum.

It is used as an Antipyretic, antimicrobial, stomachic, astringent, antidermatoses, laxative, antimalarial, sedative.

In the Philippines, a decoction of the inner bark or fresh cambium and leaves is used to treat diarrhea. Acute bacillary dysentery, enteritis,diarrhea: use 15 to 30 gms dried material in decoction. Also for colds, sore throat, headache. A decoction of the inner bark or fresh cambium and leaves is used to treat diarrhea. Anaphylactic dermatitis, eczema, skin pruritus: use decoction of fresh material and apply as external wash. Latex used as gum arabic for gluing. Seeds chewed for sore throat; inner bark decoction and fresh leaves used for colds and diarrhea.
In Pakistan infusion of leaves used as laxative. Decoction of inner bark used for diarrhea, colds, and intestinal ailments. In Jamaica leaf infusion used for treating blood pressure. In Tropical Africa seeds are chewed for treating gum and throat inflammations. In Venezuela rain tree is a traditional remedy for colds, diarrhea, headache, intestinal ailments and stomach ache. Root decoction used in hot baths for stomach cancer. In the West Indies, the leaf infusion is used as a laxative and seeds chewed for sore throat. The alcoholic extract of leaves used for tuberculosis. In Columbia, the fruit decoction is used as a sedative.

Modern medical research has shown that the Monkey Pod tree has antibacterial and anti-fungal activities and can fight Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans and E. coli infections. An alcohol extract of the leaves may inhibit Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but more research is needed.

In the West Indies the leaves are chewed to relieve toothache, and a root decoction is used in hot baths in Venezuela for stomach cancer. An infusion of the leaves is given for constipation and in the Philippines a decoction of the inner bark and the fresh leaves is given for diarrhoea. A boiled bark poultice is used to cure constipation too. It is another of Nature’s wonderful health-giving trees.

Edible: Mesocarp of the fruit is sweetish, sometimes eaten by children.

Wood: Rain Tree wood, Kayu, Suwar (or Suar), is a form of Mahogany and is a much higher quality of wood to carve with than cheaper types of wood like Kayu Pule, Kayu Sandat, or Kayu Cempaka. The Scientific name for Suwar/Suar wood is Samanea Saman and it is commonly known in the English as Rain Tree wood. Another common name for the Rain Tree is Monkeypod relating to the fact that it has seed pods which are edible. Popularly used in carving, making tables, wood basins and bowls. Hats are made from the shavings of the wood. Resistance to biodegradation is reported to vary, but the wood is durable under water. The heartwood is rated as resistant to attack by termites. The material is prone to blue-stain. The heartwood is golden-brown to dark brown in color. Wood vessels contain shiny, brown deposits.

Fodder: Seasonally copious pods with sweet pulp that can be grounded and converted to fodder and alcohol as an energy source. It is a valuable source of feed for cattle and horses. It is also an important honey plant like most mimosaceous trees.

High sugar content of the pod can be utilized for producing alcohol by fermentation.